Serbs Block Roads In Kosovo, Serbia Places Military On “Highest Fight Alert”

The native Serbs are demanding the discharge of an arrested officer.

Mitrovica:

Protesting Serbs within the ethnically divided metropolis of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia stated it had put its military on the best fight alert following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.

Serbia’s defence ministry stated in a press release late on Monday that in response to the most recent occasions within the area and its perception that Kosovo was making ready to assault Serbs and forcefully take away the barricades, President Aleksandar Vucic had ordered Serbia’s military and police to be placed on the best alert.

“There is no such thing as a purpose to panic, however there’s purpose to be involved,” Serbia’s defence minister Milos Vucevic informed RTS tv late on Monday.

Since Dec. 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo have erected a number of roadblocks in and round Mitrovica and exchanged hearth with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving cops throughout a earlier protest.

Round 50,000 Serbs dwell within the northern a part of Albanian-majority Kosovo and refuse to recognise the Pristina authorities or the state. They see Belgrade as their capital and are backed by Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

“Kosovo can’t interact in dialogue with legal gangs and freedom of motion needs to be restored. There shouldn’t be barricades on any highway,” the Kosovan authorities stated in a press release on Monday.

It added police had the capability and readiness to behave however had been ready for NATO’s KFOR Kosovo peace-keeping drive, which maintains a impartial position, to reply to their request to take away the barricades.

“We urge all sides to assist allow safety and freedom of motion in Kosovo, and stop deceptive narratives from affecting the dialogue course of,” KFOR stated in a press release.

In Mitrovica on Tuesday morning vehicles had been parked to dam the highway linking the Serb-majority a part of the city with the Albanian-majority half.

The native Serbs are demanding the discharge of the arrested officer and produce other calls for earlier than they’ll take away the barricades.

Ethnic Serb mayors in northern municipalities, together with native judges and a few 600 cops, resigned final month in protest over a Kosovo authorities determination to exchange Serbian-issued automobile license plates with ones issued by Pristina.
 

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